Forest Rendezvous
by Sephorium
Summary: When she went out into the forest that night, she obviously was completely out of her mind. She knew from the moment she read that note on her bedside table that it was a bad idea. She couldn't even have imagined what awaited her however. SasuSaku, Kind of Dark Sasuke.
1. Chapter 1

When she went out into the forest that night, she obviously was completely out of her mind. She knew from the moment she read that note on her bedside table that it was a bad idea, and something made her drag herself away from her comfy bed in only a pair of short pyjama pants and an oversized blue panda shirt and go to the forest anyway.

The sound of crushing leaves beneath her bare feet was the only sound in the night forest. Actually it was eerily quiet, not a chirp of a cricket, nor a hoot of an owl could be heard.

She wrapped an arm around her chest in a vain attempt to ward off the cold and kept her eyes firmly glued to the uneven forest floor. She had absolutely no idea why she was doing this, why even after she had firmly told herself it was an insane thing to do?

Who in their right mind would come home from an eighteen hour shift, take a shower, get changed into their pyjamas, read a note left on their bedside table that said 'Meet me at the Ryuu shrine tonight,' and actually GO?

She decided that she is most certainly bloody mad to do something like this, especially without a single weapon on her, clothed in barely anything and much less without a single reason to do so.

"I should go back, I should really _really_ go back," She mumbled to herself, raising her eyes from the ground to look at the endless expanse of trees before her.

"It isn't too late Sakura, you can still go back and climb into your soft warm bed," She continued, her feet still treading slowly forward, pace unchanging.

She narrowed her eyes, she had walked for the last fifteen minutes to get here, she wasn't going to just turn around and go back without finding out who managed to get through her flawless apartment defences without a single thing out of place.

Steeling her nerves, she quickened her pace, her waist-length pink curls swaying steadily behind her. She should have brought something with her, a kunai, a tanto, her Katana, _anything_ would have been better than what she had… Nothing.

She had to admit she was rather exhausted too with endless amounts of paperwork and reports she had filled out that day at the hospital as well as the multiple patients she had to patch up herself.

She paused as the shrine came into sight. It was nothing more than a boulder really, with a lantern hanging on either side and a deep carving of a dragon with outstretched wings on the front, the back being used as a surface for the plaque.

Leaning next to a lantern there was a silhouette of a man, his hands folded against a lean chest and head tilted slightly towards the ground.

She took a step back, her foot landing on a fallen branch and snapping it in two.

Then suddenly the figure turned his head towards her, silky dark hair shimmering in the moonlight.

She couldn't see much in the darkness, nor did she need to. She knew exactly who it was; she supposed she knew who it was before she even left her apartment.

Subconsciously she recognised that sinisterly sprawled hand writing, it had been the reason she had gone without understanding why.

His dark eyes caught the light for a second, further confirming her suspicions. He straightened up into a standing position and turned to face her.

She didn't need anymore persuasion, within seconds she had turned on her heels and was sprinting back in the direction she had come from, eyes wide and disbelieving and breaths ragged from the flu she had been developing.

It was ironic how the top medic in the entire world was suffering from the mere flu.

She had actually left work earlier than she had planned to because of a sneaking suspicion that she was developing a fever. She was planning to deal with the sickness properly after a good night's sleep and a nutritious breakfast.

'I shouldn't have come,' She mentally scolded herself when she heard the subtle signs of the man following her.

Pushing chakra into her feet she bounded forward, ignoring the strain she was putting on her fatigued body.

She actually couldn't recall the last time she had slept at home, even after her usual shifts; she would work overtime at the hospital, often passing out at her desk.

She had only gone home in the first place because she was feeling sick.

"Sakura," She heard a voice whisper into her ear, a pair of insanely strong arms wrapping in an iron tight grip around her torso.

Her eyes widened and she focused chakra into her elbow, fully planning to at least crack a few ribs, if not worse.

With the feeling of a sharp blade against her neck she stilled in his grip, her arm falling back to her side.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" She hissed, her bangs falling over her eyes.

"To talk of course," he replied before shoving her against a nearby tree and trapping both her dainty hands in one of his.

She gasped, her cheeks a deep red and a thin layer of sweat covering her body, her eyes half closed and breaths ragged.

She slumped forward dizzily, the world blurring out of focus.

"Sakura?" Sasuke whispered, using his free hand to tilt her face up to look at him, almost immediately pulling his hand away upon feeling the heat radiating from her cheeks.

Releasing her wrists he let her slump forward against his chest and wrapped an arm around her back and under her legs, lifting her easily off the ground.

Turning, he walked back in the direction of the Ryuu shrine, passing it after a few minutes and continuing on in a similar direction.

He supposed it was better this way; he didn't need to ask for her help.

Stopping in front of a small, genjutsu hidden cottage, he opened the door and stepped into the fire warmed living room.

He placed Sakura on the couch and walked into the bathroom, leaving with a bowl of icy water and a drenched facecloth.

Moving her bangs out of the way, he placed the cloth across her forehead and sat on the couch in front of her.

He hadn't seen her in five years and she was certainly a lot better looking than he remembered, other than the bags under her eyes from sleep deprivation.

If he had to describe her in one word it would have to be 'soft', from her full petal pink lips, heart shaped face down to her slender waist and milky white skin.

He looked down at his arm, the long gash scabbed over and torn in places from his earlier rough movements.

He would have gone to a normal doctor instead of reverting to his ex-teammate but it was no ordinary wound, the only thing the medics he'd seen could do was scab it over, but since then it had yet to heal at all.

He heard a soft whimper behind him and turned to see Sakura's eyes half open in alarm and attempt to sit up.

Using a large hand, he pushed her onto her back and repositioned the cloth on her forehead after soaking it in the bowl.

Sakura stared up at him in dazed confusion, quite sure that she was dreaming at this point.

Her eyes slowly started to droop closed, the urge to sleep overwhelming her need to survive.

"Sleep Sakura," He said stoically, climbing to his feet and walking into a bedroom that was not his own, the smells of the old couple that had previously lived here still emanating from the room.

He needed a place close to Konoha to stay for a while and the couple was close to death anyway, who could blame him for taking advantage of the situation.

Lying down on the double bed he rested his head on his hands and stared at the ceiling, a familiar smirk stretching across his face.

She would have to help him; after all she was now in his debt.

**Hope you enjoyed this, just felt like spontaneously writing something new. Please review and let me know if you liked the chapter and whether I should continue it. :) **

**Sasuke might seem a bit OOC but that will change, it was just necessary for the start. **


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N) It's so weird I don't even remember what I wrote in this story. Nevertheless I'm going to continue it because rereading the chapter has put some ideas in my head. I haven't written anything in forever and I miss it a bit. **

**Sorry for not writing in so long, I have too many hobbies and having a hard time balancing them orz..**

**I have written about half a chapter for every story of mine before I inevitably get busy and forget about it in my folder. I will try to be better in future, although I doubt anyone cares too much :p**

**Warning: Violence, Language, gore. Nothing majorly bad though.**

**Also I don't own Naruto, you can assume that won't change throughout the course of this story.**

She looked up through bleary eyes, not sure where she was or how she had gotten there. All she knew was that she was too weak to sit up. She turned her head to look around and was met with the image of a warm fireplace.

She had a near dry cloth still over her forehead and it was then she remembered her dream-like experience.

Sasuke placing a cloth drenched in cold water across her forehead. That had to have been a dream right? Sasuke would never actually try and help her.

When said person walked back into view and yet again dipped the cloth into the water she realised that this was actually reality.

When he moved to place the cloth back on her forehead she turned her head, near violently, away from him. She knew her attempt to be defiant in this situation was useless, just an attempt to gain some leverage in a situation where she felt helpless.

She should never have left her house while she was sick and vulnerable but curiosity had overpowered her common sense and the bitter cold of the forest had accelerated the sickness she had planned to deal with the next morning.

It was beyond her help now, she couldn't heal herself while she was this weak, especially after working an 18 hour shift at the hospital and already being low on chakra. She could only wait it out now.

He hadn't made any move to kill her yet which meant that it wasn't his intention in luring her out into the forest.

She jumped slightly when his hand touched her face and gripping her chin lightly, turned her face back to face him.

His eyes were as expressionless and as cold as ever and he said nothing as he placed the cloth on her forehead.

Her eyes hardened into a glare, as fierce a one as she could muster in her current state.

"What do you want?" she asked for the second time that evening, hoping that this time she'd get an actual answer.

"A mutually beneficial deal, Sakura," He replied, almost purring the last word and sending a shiver down her spine.

She ignored it, swallowing her fear. At 20 years old, a lot had changed in the last 8 years. He had gone from being the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre and her crush to being a murderer and the most wanted person in the Five Great Shinobi Nations.

"What could you possibly offer me, Sasuke?" She snarled back at him not liking where this was going.

"Why, your life of course," he replied nonchalantly.

Her face twisted firstly into shock then into anger. She decided against the snarky remark she was going to say and instead took the opportunity to find out exactly what it was he wanted from her.

"And what do you want in return?" she asked, painfully aware that she had little leverage in the current situation. She wasn't even able to defend herself in her current state.

"I've heard a lot about your healing abilities, Sakura." He said.

"You want me to heal you?" She asked in disbelief.

"Precisely."

"There are hundreds of healers in the five kingdoms, why specifically me?"

"Many have tried and none could do better than scabbing the wound over."

She took in what he had to say. He had a wound that no healers could heal? But he must have thought she could do it otherwise she doubted he would go to all the trouble of breaking into her flat to deliver that note and basically kidnapping her.

It was true that she had preceded her former sensei Tsunade and was highly requested as a medic by many outside of the village but she wasn't sure that she could heal a wound that so many others couldn't.

Besides that she wasn't sure she should heal him, she could get in serious trouble for healing a traitor. He seemed to be in good enough shape anyway even with the supposed wound he's talking about.

He still had her chin grasped between his fingers and at her silence his grip started tightening, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Her eyes snapped his direction and glared intensely into his stone cold black eyes.

"Let go," she growled, angered by how he was still touching her face.

He didn't, instead his lips twisted up slightly at one corner and he squeezed a bit tighter.

"Make me," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

She didn't reply to him and made no move to make him let go. He was a dangerous man and she was in a vulnerable situation. She would save her bravery for when she could at least stand and held her tongue for now.

His face went back to its usual stoicism and he let go of her face. He stayed in his position on his haunches next to the couch.

"So do we have a deal?" he asked, staring intently at her while awaiting her reply.

She wanted to stall that question because she did not know how to respond to it. As much as she could say she didn't have a choice with her life being threatened, she also did have a choice. She could die or become a traitor herself by healing him.

She didn't want to die like this, lying helplessly on a couch with a debilitating fever. However she had discovered that she indeed did have some leverage. He needed her. She wasn't going to test it at this point though and went for stalling instead.

"I can't answer that yet, I need to inspect the wound first," she replied finally, not lying but refraining from giving him a definitive answer. Once she was better she'd escape and avoid both outcomes; death and becoming a traitor.

He rose slowly to his feet and started unbuttoning his white cotton shirt in front of her. She realised he expected her to inspect it now in her current state.

"I can't do it now, I can hardly move," she said quickly, face going red at having to bring attention to her vulnerability.

She was not used to feeling vulnerable anymore, not since she was a child. She disposed of the part of her that was content in being dependant on others, her vulnerability.

She was no longer the scared defenceless little girl that hid behind her teammates. Although she felt that way now as Sasuke towered over her form on the couch, half his shirt open to reveal his chiselled chest.

His hands froze mid unbuttoning and dropped to his side. He seemed to look over her form on the couch again and considered what she said.

"Fine," he said and walked out of her sight and into a room that was positioned somewhere behind the couch.

She let out a breath of relief and relaxed slightly on the couch. She wondered where they were, she was certain he wouldn't risk going into Konoha again and staying for a prolonged amount of time, it was just too dangerous.

So in that case she was certain it had to be somewhere outside of any large villages.

This cottage looked lived in though, and she just knew it didn't belong to him.

Her eyes narrowed and she raised her voice to be loud enough that she hoped it carried over into the room Sasuke was in.

"Where are the people that live here?" She said.

"Dealt with," he replied back in a tone that told her exactly what she had feared.

He had killed them, an innocent family, just so that he could use their house for his own needs.

"You're despicable," she snarled, seething with rage at what he had done to them.

She could hear him chuckle sinisterly from the other room, the sound sending shivers down her spine once again. He was not the Sasuke she remembered, he was deranged. She needed to get out of this situation soon.

"I'd recommend you be quiet and sleep now, I expect you to heal me soon," his voice sounded from the other room. By the tone of his voice she knew it was not a suggestion but an order and not wanting to be at his mercy in the vulnerable condition she was in she went quiet.

She knew when she didn't show up for her morning shift at the hospital someone would go over to her apartment to check on her and when they didn't find her there they would go to the Hokage to report her missing.

Wait, fuck. No they wouldn't. Because she had been developing the flu she had said she would be taking the day off work, possibly more.

Who knows when they would even notice she's missing. Naruto didn't visit very often anymore, being Hokage had its responsibilities as did she being chief medic at the hospital.

Fever and tiredness eventually took hold of her and she drifted into sleep.

"_I'll walk you home Sakura," young Naruto said to her, as cheerful as always._

"_No, that's okay Naruto, I'd like to be on my own tonight," She replied, a weak smile on her face as she tried to convince him that she was fine._

"_Okay Sure. Night Sakura!" He replied disappointed but still cheerfully and ran off in the direction of his apartment._

_Her smile faded and she looked up at the full moon in the sky, some leaves twisted and twirled as they blew across her vision in the wind._

_She knew what he was going to do and she had to stop him._

_She sprinted in the direction of where she knew he would exit the village._.

_When she got there instead of seeing her Sasuke she saw an older version of him. His Sharingan glowed in the darkness and his face was stretched into a twisted grin. He held a blood covered sword at his side and now that she was really looking, she noticed that his clothes were drenched in blood, a few drops splattered on his face. It was evident the blood was not his own._

_Her eyes went wide and her body started to shake uncontrollably, what was going on? She had to get away from him, now!_

_She turned on her heels and had only ran a couple of feet away from where she was standing before she froze entirely in her tracks. Behind her along the track she had just ran to get here were the lifeless bodies of the villagers she had just passed getting here._

_Her body was frozen in place and she started shaking even more visibly._

_She could hear slow footsteps behind her as he walked towards her._

_Everything inside her screamed for her to run but she couldn't move even an inch. The footsteps stopped and a large muscular arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her firmly in place._

_She gasped as a sharp blade touched her neck._

"_Sa-ku-ra" he purred sinisterly into her ear, causing every hair on her body to stand on edge._

She gasped as she shot up into a sitting position on the couch, her head spinning with dizziness as she did so.

She shut her eyes as she breathed hard, trying to calm herself down. Everyone is fine, it was just a dream.

She opened her eyes and almost jumped when she saw Sasuke staring at her once again, this time from a chair situated next to the fireplace and opposite to her couch.

"Took you long enough to wake up, it's almost mid-day," he said, his expression one of seriousness, ignoring the manner in which she awoke.

"Can you stand?" he asked, gauging to see whether she was well enough to inspect his wound yet.

She stared blankly at him, her mind still playing the dream over in her head.

There was a few seconds of silence until a noise of impatience sounded from Sasuke and she snapped out of her daze to look at him.

"Can you stand?" This time there was annoyance in his voice and he sounded out each word slowly and deliberately.

She said nothing as she turned and placed her feet on the floor, using the arm of the couch to support herself into a standing position.

She let go and to her relief she didn't go crashing once more to the floor.

"Yes," she finally replied.

He smirked and stood up, walking deliberately towards her. She found herself wanting to back away from him but having the couch directly behind her she instead fell backwards onto it.

He stopped in front of her, the smirk not leaving his face at her obvious fear of him.

She clenched her fists, refusing to let any more vulnerability slip through.

After an uncomfortable few seconds of him just staring at her she broke the silence.

"Show me this wound then," she said.

He unbuttoned and removed the white shirt he was wearing. There were bloodstained bandages wrapped around the area between his ribs and hip bone.

She wasn't at the right height sitting on the couch to properly inspect his wound but he had gotten so close that she could not stand up without awkwardly brushing against him.

She used her hands and pushed him back lightly so he got the hint that she needed space to stand up. He seemed surprised at the contact and suddenly pulled her onto her feet by her wrist.

Slightly flustered by the quick movement she ripped her hand from his and went to focussing on the task at hand, rather than her anger.

She unwrapped the bandage and was met with a grotesque sight. There was a diagonal slash along his hip bone that was poorly scabbed over and seeping with yellow fluid and puss.

Her hand lit up green and she could feel she still didn't have much chakra. She planned only to check the wound out for now, not heal it yet.

What she sensed shocked her however; she had never seen anything like it. Though she had seen wounds that were created by the use of chakra she had never seen a wound that retained chakra after it was used to create it.

Upon further examination she realised that the chakra was keeping the wound open and she imagined Sasuke must be in a lot of pain, not that he showed it.

After a few minutes of her inspecting the wound Sasuke finally spoke.

"Well?" He asked and after a few seconds of her looking at him blankly he spoke again.

"Can you heal me?" He asked, sounding more impatient.

In theory she could but it would take days, if not weeks to extract the chakra that was keeping the wound open and worsening by the day.

After looking at it again she was sure that the wound could even kill him if it wasn't healed in the next few months at the rate it was worsening.

Did she even care if it killed him though? After everything he's done? No.

There was a slight pang of guilt in her chest that made her think it might not be entirely true.

'_You have to go Sakura, he's not your Sasuke anymore and there's no guarantee he'll even let you live if you do heal him.'_ She thought to herself.

"_Not to mention with the amount of time it would take to heal this wound people would notice you're gone, you can't heal a traitor!"_ Her inner self continued to argue.

What should she say? He made it clear that if she didn't heal him he would kill her and she had no doubt that was the truth.

"I don't know yet," she lied. She never was very good at lying though and as expected he knew right away.

"Don't lie to me," He said evenly, though he didn't change his tone she could feel the threat behind his words.

"I u-uh…" She stuttered, something she had never done before and another obvious sign of her vulnerability.

"In theory I could but it would take days if not weeks," She finished her sentence, telling him the truth because she was certain if she didn't and he saw through it again that there would be consequences and she knew what he was capable of.

He looked at her for a moment, seemingly assessing whether what she was saying was true or not.

"That's fine," He replied finally sounding irritated at the outcome of her inspection.

"But I can't be gone for that long, people will notice and if I heal you I will be considered a traitor," she said before she could stop herself.

He clucked his tongue and his lips twitched up into a lopsided smirk.

"You will heal me or I will kill you, the consequences of doing so are irrelevant to me." He said calmly that smirk still plastered on his face.

Arrogant bastard!

'_Betray my village or die...'_

She already knew which one she would pick.

"Then Kill me." She bit out through gritted teeth, glaring intensely into the dark eyes of the man in front of her.

The smirk faded into a stoic expression and he stared at her emotionlessly for a good few seconds.

He was over a foot taller than her and towered over her rather petite form. There were so many ways he could kill her and in her current state she didn't stand a chance.

He wondered how such green eyes could hold such fire.

Didn't she used worship him? Didn't she want to leave behind their worthless village and go with him all those years ago? Didn't she say she loved him?

Although her stare was fiery and intense it still lacked hatred for him. He knew what true hatred was and he didn't see it in her eyes.

He had travelled to every country convincing medics to heal him, even killing a couple that refused to try because of his wanted status. Not one of them thought they could or managed to make the slightest difference. Sakura however he knew could, he could see it in her eyes when she was examining his wounds.

He knew if he wasn't healed soon it would worsen to the point it would kill him, and he wouldn't let that son of a bitch who wounded him win. He had already taken care of him and refused to be taken down with him, he had unfinished business to deal with, he couldn't die yet.

He had no choice but to force her to heal him.

Sakura however wasn't going to let this rare opportunity where Sasuke got lost in his thoughts go to waste.

Focussing chakra to her feet she propelled herself into the air and flipped backwards over the couch. In the blink of an eye she had bolted to the door and smashed it into a thousand tiny pieces with a chakra laden fist.

Not wasting a second of precious time she focused as much chakra as she was able to her feet and ran as fast as she could in the direction of Konoha.

She had hoped she would have gotten there but as she already knew he was so much faster than she was, especially in her Chakra drained state. And apparently he wasn't going to let her just leave.

She was grabbed by her shoulder mid air and turned to face him. Wide doe-like emerald eyes came in contact with raging crimson.

And that was the last thing she saw before empty darkness.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please let me know if you did! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

Her eyes blinked groggily open, only to close again at the lack of light.

'_Was it night already?'_ she wondered

She only vaguely remembered the events that had happened earlier that day.

And having done so did she opened her eyes again to assess her situation.

The air was chilly and nipped at the exposed part of her legs and arms, surprisingly though she found herself warm, and in her groggy state she couldn't quite figure out why.

She wanted to move to sit up but found her hands firmly restrained behind her and apart from being unable to move her arms she found that something else was holding her there.

It finally clicked that she was being held by someone, firmly at that.

She couldn't recall having ever felt this groggy in her life and being a shinobi she was trained to wake up at the slightest disturbance and be awake enough to fight.

The arms around her tightened into almost a squeeze letting her know that he was awake and knew she was too.

She gulped and backed into his chest letting him know she wasn't going to try anything and his grip around her loosened slightly again.

As much as she wanted to protest and fight she found herself too exhausted to do much more than just keep her eyes open.

She realised that it was probably the effects of the Sharingan on her system, having just remembered seeing red before she blacked out.

She remembered that it took Kakashi-sensei days to recover from the effects Itachi's Mangekyo had on him. She didn't remember any pain however, or anything at all in fact.

She remembered only darkness; she supposed it made sense she was so exhausted now because in all the time she had been unconscious she hadn't been sleeping but in the effects of the Sharingan.

She disregarded her thoughts and went back to focussing on her current situation.

He was holding her?

_What the fuck._

She was so not okay with her ex teammate holding her like this for various reasons. Years ago it would have given anything to be held is Sasuke Uchiha's arms but she had long since moved on.

Even though she knew it was wrong he was so warm and his hold somehow comforting that she found herself drifting to sleep.

The next morning she woke up as soon as he removed his hold around her, this time not remotely groggy.

She didn't recognise where they were and they were surrounded entirely by thick forest.

Sitting up was almost difficult with her hands fastened behind her back. Deciding she'd had enough of her bindings she pushed chakra to her hands.

Instead of the desired effect though, she keeled over as a pang of pain hit her and no chakra reached her hands.

She could _feel _him smirking at her and she so badly wanted to smash it off his face.

It was a chakra seal.

It was unlike any she'd ever seen however; it didn't drain her chakra or stop her from generating it, it just stopped her from being able to use it. Without _permission _she supposed. She scowled at the thought.

She finally lifted her head from her knees, where she had placed it when she had keeled over in pain, and looked up at Sasuke.

He had his eyes on her and was leaning casually against a tree.

She wondered why she was even alive, he had threatened to kill her if she didn't heal him and she had gone for death so why was she here and why had he kidnapped her of all things?

"Let me go," she said, finally breaking the silence.

The smirk appeared yet again on his face and he walked towards where she was still sitting on the ground.

He looked at her in silence for a minute before reaching down and pulling her onto her feet by her arm.

He didn't let go however and puller her onto her tippy toes to look him in the eyes. She still didn't quite come up to eye level, being a foot or so shorter than him.

"No, Sa-ku-ra," he said her name one syllable and a time, slowly and with a smirk on his face.

Her eyes widened when he did the next thing and leaned in close, right by the shell of her ear and whispered.

"This is how it's going to work; you're going to heal me and when you're done I'll let you go and you can go back to that hospital of yours and heal whoever you want."

"You may have chosen death over healing me but Sakura there are so many things I could do to you that are worse than death."

She shuddered, both from what he was saying and his hot breath fanning over the shell of her ear.

She had seen firsthand what he could do to someone; in fact she had healed more than one person he had interrogated for information.

She couldn't even undo some of the damage he'd done to them, certainly they were never the same afterwards.

Not one of them hadn't spilled their guts though, and these were fully trained Jounin too.

She found herself nodding, agreement to his terms. Her eyes were shut tightly and she didn't look at him.

She was slowly lowered to the ground again

Her wrists behind her were grabbed and the rope holding them there untied.

She gingerly rubbed the area where the bindings had been and looked up at Sasuke once more.

He just stared at her then slowly he started to unbutton his shirt again.

"Heal me," he ordered and she could feel the seal release and her chakra flow freely once more.

She hesitated wanting to do nothing more than punch him in the face with a chakra laden fist.

"Don't even think about it," He said in almost a growl.

She felt that same pain from earlier and almost whimpered. This was a seriously advanced seal he had placed on her and he seemed to have full control over it without any sort of hand signs.

She didn't see how she was going to get out of this, without Chakra she couldn't run fast enough to get away from him or do any real harm.

She sighed and her hands lit up with a green glow.

"I need you to lie down on your back," She said finally, knowing it was the only way she'd be able to remove the chakra keeping his wound open.

She could tell he didn't like the idea and she assumed it was because he always had to be in control.

To her surprise he obeyed her finally and lay flat on his back on the grassy forest ground.

She kneeled down next to him and plaited her waist length hair behind her, it was the best she could do to keep her hair out her face without a hair tie.

She had a cup full of those on her desk in the hospital and always tied her hair up when healing patients.

"This is going to hurt," she warned him; it was an invasive procedure where she had to force a bubble of her chakra into his wound to extract the foreign chakra. It was nothing like the relaxing knitting together of a wound that people usually feel when being healed.

She formed the bubble and started to push it into the wounded area; she saw his entire body tense and before she knew it she felt the same pang of pain as earlier.

Having her concentration interrupted the bubble shattered and she involuntarily keeled over again.

"I can't heal you if you're going to hurt me!" she near scolded him in frustration.

He didn't say anything but motioned for her to continue again with his eyes.

This time she managed to remove some of the chakra and it evaporated into the air with a _tss _sound.

She did it a few more times before the chakra bubble popped again and she nearly collapsed onto his chest.

She would have done too had she not caught herself with her hand on the ground on the other side of his body.

With the bit of chakra she had left she scabbed the wound over to stop any more unnecessary bleeding.

She found herself panting audibly; it's an exceptionally draining procedure and she already had low chakra reserves at the current time.

This was going to take even longer than she anticipated; she dreaded having to spend any more days _captive _to her deranged ex teammate.

Sakura shakily rose to her feet and had to lean against a tree to stable herself. She had overdone it slightly wanting to finish healing Sasuke as soon as possible and she could feel her body shutting down to replenish her chakra reserves.

Before she fell to the ground a strong arm caught her by the waist.

She awoke at some early hour of the morning and yet again had no idea where they were. It wasn't the same place as before however, she knew that; the trees were different.

She was being taken further and further away from the leaf and she didn't like it one bit. She hadn't left the village at all in the last 2 years. Being assigned as the chief medic at the hospital was a huge responsibility and she was needed there more than they needed her on missions.

This time she didn't even need to move to know she was in the same position as the last time she woke up in the dark. Her hands were bound behind her back and a warm body almost pressed against her.

This time though the hand that was wrapped around her was lightly grazing her neck, sending unwanted shivers down her spine.

By the slow even breathing she knew he was asleep. She wondered if he was holding her like this to have better control over her or to keep her warm. She was still in her pyjamas from a couple days ago and at this point she both desperately wanted clean clothes and desperately needed a bath.

She figured her hands had been bound so Sasuke could control her while he was sleeping and not able to watch her. Tch, he had always been such a control freak.

Suddenly her ears pricked up as she heard rustling of leaves nearby. And in a split second Sasuke was on his feet, Kusanagi in hand.

Shortly they were surrounded by what looked like a band of looters. There were around 12 of them, and while most of them didn't look a threat the leader of the group had a Jounin headband of rock country with a line scratched through it.

Missing nin.

She didn't like being so chakra depleted and even worse her hands were still tied behind her back. Not to mention the chakra seal that until now she had almost forgot about.

She sat up and backed up into the trunk of a tree nearby, at least this way nobody could sneak up on her.

She was going to kill him for this, as soon as he let her go. While Sasuke was bad she didn't think he'd do anything to her as long as she healed him. These looters however were scumbags who raped, pillaged and murdered for fun.

"Give us everything you have, or die," The leader said to them, his face was covered by a mask, similar to Kakashi's and he had grey eyes and medium-short spikey black hair.

He was also exceptionally muscular looking as though he spent hours a day just body building.

She knew his strength was nothing compared to Sasuke's however; although his frame was lean it held extreme power.

She heard Sasuke make a "tch" sound before he smirked at the Jounin in front of him. The Jounin, angered by Sasuke's attitude, lunged at him with his tanto drawn.

He was easily deflected with Kusanagi and went skidding backwards along the dirt.

While Sasuke was distracted however one of the lesser thugs of the group came at Sakura's vulnerable form against the tree.

"Thanks for making it so easy, love." He said. He spoke in an ugly way, as though he hadn't quite opened his lips wide enough to talk, not remotely graceful like Sasuke spoke.

He didn't attack her though, rather pulled her to her feet by her elbow then almost right off the ground. She had always been rather petite.

She smiled sweetly at him and with a swift motion kneed him straight in the groin.

She almost didn't catch herself when he dropped her but it brought her some sadistic pleasure seeing him keeled over on the ground.

She kicked him again in the side, hard, just for good measure and he rolled a few feet away from her wailing in agony.

While she relied heavily on chakra control for her superhuman strength she was well trained in Taijutsu and was strong enough without having to use her chakra at all.

While she had been cooped up in the village she would train with Lee every morning for an hour or so before her shift started in the morning.

She had forgotten about his visits in the morning but she figured he would be the first to notice her missing.

She had also told him she would be off sick but he would definitely try to rile up her "youthful spirit" before she was ready.

Another thug swiped at her from behind and knocked her out of her thoughts. She ducked out of the way just in time to entirely miss the kunai he was holding.

She promptly used the opportunity to kick the kunai out of his hand and land one strong kick right in his abdomen.

She heard screams behind her and turned to see that another thug who had been lunging at her just a moment before had the arm that was reaching for her cut clean off at the elbow.

She jumped out of the way as the body went skidding across the floor straight past her.

There were no longer any of the lesser thugs active in the fight and the only ones that were still alive were the ones that she had dealt with that were groaning from their positions on the ground behind her.

The Jounin didn't last long either and she didn't even think she saw him get a single hit in before Kusanagi was plunged through his chest.

Sasuke's power was truly unbelievable, he would be such an asset to Konoha if only he would come home.

It was far too late for that though, were he to come home now he would most likely be executed for his crimes, just to keep peace between the five great shinobi nations.

He would also have an angry Hokage on his back for the whole kidnapping her thing.

She cringed at all the bloodshed around her, they really chose the wrong people to mess with.

Her eyes widened and she flinched as he plunged Kusanagi into the chests of the two she hadn't killed.

"That was unnecessary!" She yelled at him, they were basically civilians with the fighting skills they had.

They weren't a threat. He just smirked at her though and walked closer to her. She found herself wanting to back up but held her ground regardless.

He grabbed her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.

"You think so?" He asked, pausing before speaking again, "They attacked you."

"They weren't a threat," She persisted.

"Tch," He sounded, letting go of her chin and scooping her up against his chest to carry her.

"Wha- No- Put me down!" She protested, flustered by more body contact. He entirely ignored her though and continued walking in the direction she assumed was even further away from Konoha.

~Meanwhile in Konoha~

_Knock knock._

Silence.

_Knock Knock._

More silence.

"Sakura-san?" Lee called from outside her apartment door.

Even more silence.

"You must be feeling better by now, you are young and full of youthful energy!" He persisted.

Still getting no answer he decided to try the handle. It was open, which was strange as she always left the door locked when she was home as well as when she wasn't.

He saw the latch was locked but wasn't quite closed enough to lock as though she left in a hurry or didn't plan to be out for long.

He walked through her house calling for her and stopped next to her bedside table when he spotted a note.

He thought maybe it was from her but upon seeing the message his eyes widened and he grabbed the note before bounding towards the Hokage tower.

**Hope you guys liked the chapter :)**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, always inspires me to write new chapters. If you liked it please let me know. **

**Also I wanted to tell you guys that this fic won't be a fluffy one if that's what you like, in case you haven't noticed I'm working with a deranged Sasuke xD**

**3**


	4. Chapter 4

**Some of you guys seem to be worried about Sasuke being very dark in this fic. Don't worry he'll have some redeeming qualities I promise. This is how I'd imagine Sasuke being if he hadn't sought out the Edo Tensei Hokages, falling further into madness.**

**It'll be okay, I promise.**

**Also forgive me for any errors in the storyline I stopped watching a while ago but I've seen pictures of Naruto "The Last" etc. and assume this is an entirely different plot line during and after Shippuden.**

Sakura looked away from him the entire time she was being carried, she could of squirmed some more or probably fall out of his arms doing so but she figured there was little point in that.

She was still in shock, Sasuke might have always been a bit damaged but she never could have imagined him turning into someone who could murder in cold blood.

He wouldn't let her just travel with him, she figured it was to reserve her chakra but the last thing she wanted was to be carried as a 20 year old fully fledged kunoichi.

She had basically become a legend during the fight with Madara, saving hundreds of Shinobi lives from every country.

She had many people from outside the village seeking her as a medic, including a certain someone who was now carrying her somewhere against her will.

He eventually stopped and much to her dismay she knew where they were. The huge boulder blocking the entrance moved as it picked up his ring and he walked inside the cave-like entrance.

This place had been set up again by other Akatsuki members after team 7 and 8 had broken the seals and rescued Gaara.

She had horrible memories in here, this was the closest she had ever come to dying; her fight with Sasori. She still thought about Chiyo-obaasan, who saved her life, every now and then.

Once inside he near dropped her on the ground and started searching around the dark cave for something. The huge statue that she remembered being there so many years ago was gone.

"What are you looking for," she finally asked, itching with curiosity.

"Now, if I told you that I'd have to kill you," He replied sounding amused, she would have almost thought he was joking if she didn't know him better than that.

She dropped it, she wanted to be released after this and quenching her curiosity wasn't worth the risk.

He came back a few minutes later empty handed, she figured he found what he was looking for however and had already stored it somewhere.

Considering he was the last person alive with an Akatsuki ring nobody else could get in here and from what she understood one could only get in with a ring made for them.

She was sitting on the floor watching him; he seemed to be getting lost in his thoughts again and she wondered what that was about, she had very rarely seen Sasuke do that back when they were on the same team.

But now since she had met him in the forest he'd done it twice.

"Can you untie me now, please," She finally asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

He didn't seem pleased she had caught him doing that but he walked over to her, pulled her off the ground by her arm and slid a kunai under the ropes, severing them in half.

They fell to the ground and she rubbed over the bruising area gingerly. He seemed to do a lot of unnecessary things these days in favour of being a bastard.

He walked towards the boulder closing the exit and it rolled to the side to let him out.

"Come," He said.

Not wanting to be left in a cave she'd never be able to get out of by herself she obeyed and near ran after him.

She could probably smash through the wall no problem but he still had a chakra seal on her which was very much the problem.

She had to find a way to get rid of it, but she hadn't even managed to find where he had placed it yet.

The whole area outside the lair was familiar to her and she glanced at the spot where Gaara was brought back to life.

She looked back at Sasuke who for some reason had stopped walking, and was caught by surprise by red and black again.

"Sleep Sakura," He said, but it sounded almost dream-like and distant.

She collapsed to the ground but he of course caught her and didn't let her acquire even a single scratch.

He pulled her up into his chest and looked down at her; she was breathing softly and evenly, very much asleep.

Her lips were pouty almost looking as though she was mad at him for using his Sharingan on her again.

Finally breaking eye contact with her sleeping form he jumped up into the nearest tree and bounded away at what seemed like the speed of light.

He used the Sharingan on her because she was still low on chakra and he didn't need her struggling in his grip and falling while travelling at this speed.

A sleepy blonde haired Hokage rested his head on the desk, snoring audibly.

A huge pile of paperwork lay tauntingly next to him.

When there was a frantic knock at the door he jumped, bashing his chin on the desk.

He grasped it instantly, rubbing it delicately.

Today just wasn't his day, the paperwork was absolutely slaying him and he hadn't slept in two whole days.

"Ouch," he complained before remembering what woke him up from his power nap.

"Oh, come in," he shouted, wondering what could be so bad that someone was banging on his door like that.

"Lee? What is it?" Naruto asked worried by his panicky expression.

"I just found this in Sakura-san's apartment!" he said handing Naruto the note.

Naruto's eyes widened and he slammed his fist on the desk, rising to his feet.

Sasuke.

He just _knew _it was him.

And he had Sakura; he couldn't let anything happen to her.

He also knew as Hokage he couldn't just leave the village Hokage-less to find her.

"Fox, mouse," he said and in a split second two Anbu had appeared out of thin air, both wore masks of the animals they were named after.

They kneeled on the floor in front of him awaiting commands.

"Summon Kakashi, Hinata, Shikamaru and Sai," he ordered. He didn't want to send his girlfriend but the group needed a sensory on the team and he trusted no Hyuuga better than her.

When they arrived he briefed them on the mission; find and bring Sakura home and avoid confrontation with Sasuke as much as possible.

He'd never seen Kakashi look so worried before, but he felt it too, Sasuke wasn't who he used to be.

And he had Sakura, his dearest friend.

They left shortly after that.

Sakura started to stir some hours later. She was propped up against a tree trunk and there was a fire about a metre and a half in front of her.

She smelt food and realised she hadn't eaten in around two days but she had been unconscious for so much of it she had hardly noticed.

It was evening and the sun was setting; she was about to check her surroundings when he handed her a piece of bread and a fish on a stick that had been cooked over the fire.

"Uh- thanks," she responded, unsure what to say to him.

He just made a "hnn" sound and sat down next to the her.

Almost too close for her liking. But she had notice him being quite... touchy with her.

And she found it strange, he never used to like bodily contact with anyone.

She brushed it off, doubting it meant anything.

He finished eating and looked over at her a few times while she finished eating.

Sakura finally returned the gaze and she knew what was coming next.

He wanted her to heal him again; she could tell by her chakra being released again.

He lay down in front of her missing her lap by mere centimetres.

She sighed and wiped her hands off on her shorts.

Slowly forming the chakra bubble she pushed it into the exposed wound; his body tensed instantly.

She knew it hurt but he didn't make a sound.

A few more times and she stopped, refusing to get as drained as the previous time.

When she popped the bubble she got distracted by the numerous faded scars scattered across his chiselled chest. One in particular caught her attention; it was reddish pink and fairly recent, no more than a few months old.

Subconsciously she lightly grazed a finger over it and in a split second Sasuke had grabbed her wrist. It was a gentle grip however, one she didn't think him capable of.

He sat up and held onto her a few moments longer than necessary until she gently pulled it out of his grip.

She almost thought she saw a tint of red on his cheeks but she knew that was impossible.

"I- uh- sorry, I don't know why I did that," she said, blushing slightly at her loss of self control.

"Hnn," was his only response before he was on his feet again and buttoning his shirt.

'_Well at least some things don't change_' she thought to herself a half smile coming to her face at the feeling of nostalgia.

She wished she could have stopped him from leaving Konoha then none of this would have happened. He would be a hero and not a murderer.

She was snapped out of her thoughts a few minutes later when he sat down next to her again.

There was silence between them before she finally spoke up.

"Is there a river nearby?"

He looked at her calculatingly for a moment.

"Just down there," he said, pointing towards some more trees.

She stood up and he let her go down to the river on her own.

Her clothes were gross at this point and actually blood stained from the fight that morning.

She couldn't go on like this it was gross.

She stripped naked and climbed into the clear water, it was cold but refreshing and she could finally wash the grime from her body and hair.

When she was done she begrudgingly got back into her filthy pajamas.

She walked up towards Sasuke and found him the in the same position, casually leaning back against the tree, one coal black eye open and looking at her.

Was she not in her current position she would have admired his beauty. For all his flaws, looks were never one of them.

"I'll get you clothes tomorrow," he said as if reading her mind.

He closed his other eye and stayed like that until she sat down, she sat next to the fire and wrung out her dripping hair, fluffing it up and trying to dry it.

It was almost Autumn and starting to get chilly the last thing she needed was her hair getting her sick.

She noticed him watching her again and wondered what he could find so interesting.

Or maybe he just didn't trust her. What was she going to do? Outrun him at civilian pace in whatever direction Konoha was in? She almost laughed but refrained from doing so.

When her hair was only slightly damp she moved further back from the fire and lay back on the grass.

The area felt somewhat familiar but she couldn't quite place why.

She ended up falling asleep there, being low on chakra always made her tired.

The grass was lush and soft and it wasn't too cold out.

She didn't even wake up when Sasuke kneeled down next to her and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

He sat down next to her but he didn't touch her again or sleep he just stared into the fire and remembered why he was doing all this.

He could almost see his brother's face in the fire, smiling back at him.

He gritted his teeth and put out the fire with ease, fire was one of his chakra types and it did what he wanted.

He would have it soon; he would avenge his brother and his family.

Suddenly Sakura started whimpering beside him. She was still fast asleep but her eyebrows were knitted together and her lips parted.

He ignored it and went back to clearing up the remains of the fire, removing as much trace of their presence there as possible. He knew someone was looking for her by now.

She whimpered again and he paused to look back at her troubled face. She must have been having a nightmare again.

When she did it a third time he reached down to wake her up. He didn't even reach her before she shot upwards into a sitting position and he had to catch a fist aimed straight at his face.

Her breathing was quick and she had a thin layer of sweat covering her body.

She looked at him wide-eyed and confused and after a few seconds un-balled her fist. Her wrist was trapped in his grip and he was staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher.

"Sorry," She said finally, realising what had happened. For the last two years she had had nightmares every other night, very rarely going without one.

She tried to pull her wrist out of his hold but he wouldn't let go.

"Sasuke?" She asked, confused.

She tried again and this time managed to pry her wrist free.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He looked away from her and continued spreading the remains of the fire to make it look as though there never was one there.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She no longer wanted to sleep, that dream had been terrible.

In the dream she was in the forest and something was following her. Every time she looked behind her nothing was there and every time she looked back in front of her a second set of footsteps could be heard.

The forest started changing from green and leafy to more and more dead and decrepit. Eventually she froze, scared, and the footsteps continued, getting louder until they stopped right behind her.

"Don't look at me," The voice said, it was deep and otherworldly and the sound almost made her jump out of her skin.

She started to turn her head.

"Don't." it said again.

But she had to see what had been following her.

She could see its shadow on the floor in front of her. It was huge, multiple feet taller than her and so muscular.

She didn't feel like it was a person at all.

Scared she ran forward and didn't get far before it leaped over her head and landed right in front of her.

She didn't make out any features apart from its massive size and massive teeth. It was at that point she woke up to almost punch Sasuke right in the face.

Why had he been leaning over her anyway?

She calmed her breathing and tried to convince herself that she needed to sleep.

It wasn't working and every time she closed her eyes all she could see were massive jaws of sharp fangs coming right at her face.

Sasuke, finally done covering their tracks, stood up and left her there. He went in the direction of the river.

This would have been the perfect time to escape but she knew she'd be in more danger with her chakra sealed without him than she was with him.

Yes Sasuke was deranged, dangerous and the most wanted person in all the countries but for some strange reason she felt safer being with him than at the mercy of any malignant person she may come across with her chakra sealed.

He came back 10 minutes later in different clothes and with his hair wet to find her in the same position he had left her in.

He smirked at the way she had given up on escaping him. They both knew it would be futile or at the very least idiotic.

She lay awake for the next few hours before exhaustion finally took hold of her. This time she didn't dream at all and she was thankful for that.

Once she had fallen asleep Sasuke moved closer and lay down next to her. He couldn't properly justify why he did so but chalked it up to "keeping better tabs on her".

**Hope you guys liked the chapter :)**

**Please review 3**


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